Nagorno-Karabakh ‘Does Not Exist,’ Pashinyan’s Ruling Party Leader Says Calls for Dissolution of Armenia-Artsakh Inter-Parliamentary Commission. Artsakh Parliament Responds

A close ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Speaker of Armenia’s Parliament, Alen Simonyan, on Monday said that an entity called Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist and called for the dissolution of the Armenia-Artsakh Inter-Parliamentary Commission.

“Legally, Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist as an entity,” Simonyan said. “There are only our [Artsakh] compatriots who were displaced and whose problems the Armenian government is addressing in an excellent way.”

Simonyan, whose statements have often caused controversy, went of to say that Pashinyan’s government has done more for Artsakh than any other regime, and blamed the Artsakh authorities for the current situation, echoing the ruling Civil Contract party’s, as well as the views of Pashinyan, about Artsakh.

The comments were made when opposition Hayastan faction member Artsvik Minasyan asked the parliament speaker about resuming the work of a joint Armenia-Artsakh parliamentary commission, accusing Simonyan of blocking that effort.

The commission, which has existed for decades, was a platform for lawmakers from Armenia and Artsakh to work together on common goals and projects.

Since Azerbaijan’s attack last year on Artsakh, which forced the entire Armenian population there to flee to Armenia, the Artsakh National Assembly has been working in exile in Armenia. The Artsakh Parliament Speaker Davit Ishkhanyan was among several Artsakh leaders who were arrested and are currently facing sham charges in Azerbaijan.

Simonyan’s response to Minasyan, the Hayastan faction lawmaker, was to call for the dissolution of the joint parliamentary commission.

“I think that we must very seriously consider dissolving that format because Nagorno-Karabakh, Artsakh officials don’t exist anymore and nobody has such a status in Armenia anymore,” Simonyan said on the parliament floor.

“The Artsakh Republic disbanded itself by the decision of its officials,” he said on the parliament floor, dismissing opposition arguments that Artsakh is included in many legal and legislative documents in Armenia.

Since Azerbaijan’s attack last September, Pashinyan and his allies have all but washed their hands of Artsakh. During the tense two days that saw the exodus of Armenians, Pashinyan and his Civil Contract party were calling for Artsakh authorities to negotiate directly with Azerbaijan’s leaders who had orchestrated the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh.

The Acting Artsakh Parliament Speaker, Gagik Baghunts, was quick to respond to Simonyan’s statement, saying the Armenian parliament speaker has jumped the gun as there are mechanisms for dissolving such commissions.

He cited Mark Twain’s famous quote, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” to illustrate that the Artsakh parliament was still an existing entity, since the lawmakers had received a mandate by the people of Artsakh to serve for five years.

“As regards the activity of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, in 2023 after the ethnic cleansing that took place in September, I should mention that Artsakh parliament deputies, having received the votes of the people of Artsakh, vowed to continue to function for five years under the current circumstances and bear the responsibility for the fate of Artsakh Armenians,” Baghunts, the acting Artsakh speaker, said in his statement.

He said that the Artsakh parliament was given the mandate to also secure the collective return of Artsakh Armenians to their homeland with security guarantees.